Washington (CNN)The Pentagon has chosen Boeing's 747-8 to replace the two aging planes that serve as the President's Air Force One fleet.
Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
Air Force One flies past an American flag on its way into Daytona Beach, Florida, in 2004. The U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday, January 28, that a customized military version of Boeing's 747-8 will serve as Air Force One for future Presidents. Click through to see the different airplanes that have served as the President's transportation over the years.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
The Douglas VC-54C, nicknamed "Sacred Cow," is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, near Dayton, Ohio. Sacred Cow served as President Franklin Roosevelt's official transportation to the Yalta Conference in February 1945.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President Harry Truman's official aircraft, the Independence, served as the presidential plane for almost six years until 1953.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
A presidential plane named Columbine III ferried Dwight D. Eisenhower, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Washington in November 1957.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
From left, astronaut John Glenn, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and President John F. Kennedy arrive at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in February 1962. Kennedy was the first president to use a customized Boeing VC-137C as Air Force One. The plane was a military version of the Boeing 707. Code-named "SAM 26000," this jet served presidents for more than three decades.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
Following Kennedy's assassination, Johnson was sworn in as the President aboard SAM 26000 -- Special Air Mission, tail number 26000.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
With Air Force One in the background, President Richard Nixon delivers a speech at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington after returning from his historic trip to China in February 1972.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President Gerald Ford works while aboard Air Force One in 1974.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President Jimmy Carter waves goodbye as he boards a presidential aircraft on his final day in office in 1981.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President Ronald Reagan throws a football toward the press before boarding Air Force One in 1988.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President George H. W. Bush talks with reporters aboard Air Force One in 1990. The Boeing VC-25 -- a military version of the 747-200B -- served as Air Force One for Bush as well as Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
Clinton deplanes Air Force One in Philadelphia in 1996.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
President George W. Bush, aboard Air Force One, speaks with Vice President Dick Cheney by phone on September 11, 2001.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
Obama steps off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in April.
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Photos: U.S. Presidents and Air Force One
A customized military version of this Boeing 747-8 will serve future Presidents.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
Photos: Codename SAM 26000
This Boeing VC-137C is the first custom-built jet to serve as Air Force One. Codenamed Special Air Mission -- or SAM -- 26000, the airliner witnessed more presidential history than any other -- ranging from the tragic to the hilarious. It sits in the Presidential Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
SAM 26000 may be "the most important historical airplane in the world," said Air Force historian Jeff Underwood. It supported a mission to open U.S relations with China and flew to secret Paris peace talks during the Vietnam War. But it's probably most closely tied to President John F. Kennedy, who first used it in 1962.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the president exit SAM 26000 in Texas in November 1963, just hours before the president would be assassinated. Five months earlier, the plane had flown Kennedy to Berlin, where he delivered his historic "I am a Berliner" address.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
This is likely the most famous photograph ever taken aboard any presidential aircraft. Hours after the attack -- and shortly before SAM 26000 left Dallas -- Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president with the first lady at his side. Federal Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath, the only woman ever to do so.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
At Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, the president's casket was offloaded onto an ambulance from SAM 26000, where it had been placed in the rear of the cabin. "The crew didn't want President Kennedy's casket to travel in the cargo hold," said then-flight engineer Joe Chappell on C-SPAN in 1998. "So they made room for it in the passenger compartment." To create the extra space, Chappell said he helped remove two rows of seats and a separating wall.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
The president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was anxious to board the plane after it arrived. Shown here with the first lady, RFK "leaped up" the airline stairs in a rush to console Mrs. Kennedy, according to historian Steven Gillon. He "pushed his way down" the aisle past President Johnson "without saying a word." Johnson "fumed that Kennedy would board the plane without even acknowledging him," Gillon wrote in "The Kennedy Assassination, 24 Hours After."
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
President Johnson is seen here meeting with Sens. Mike Mansfield, left, and J. William Fulbright, far right. All presidents aboard Air Force One used it to multitask. For example, at a 1964 campaign stop, LBJ gave an impromptu press conference on the plane while he changed clothes.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
In 1972, SAM 26000 ferried President Richard Nixon to Beijing on a groundbreaking mission to open U.S. relations with the People's Republic of China. The aircraft was welcomed by a 350-man Chinese military honor guard.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
In 1981, Nixon and fellow ex-presidents Gerald Ford, left, and Jimmy Carter, right, flew SAM 26000 to the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. (Also attending: former first lady Rosalynn Carter.) They felt "somewhat ill at ease" together, wrote Carter years later. Then Nixon "surprisingly eased the tension," Carter recalled. The men bonded. The trip resulted in a long friendship between bitter election rivals Carter and Ford.
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Photos: Codename SAM 26000
Many aviation enthusiasts, aircraft geeks and history buffs see the jet as a national treasure. As Vice President Al Gore put it when he last boarded it in 1998: "If history itself had wings, it probably would be this very aircraft."
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Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a statement that the plane, one of Boeing's largest, is the only aircraft "manufactured in the United States [that] when fully missionized meets the necessary capabilities established to execute the presidential support mission, while reflecting the office of the President of the United States of America consistent with the national public interest."
It will undertake the modifications necessary to make the plane ready for presidential flights, including the addition of sophisticated communication equipment and living quarters for the President and his staff.
The plane itself is a rarity — declining demand for the 747-8 has slowed its production to just 1.5 planes per month, according to Bloomberg.
The two Boeing 747-200 planes that the President currently uses will reach the end of their 30-year service life in 2017, and according to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Air Force has set aside $1.65 billion between 2015 and 2019 for two replacement jets.
James said that "parts obsolescence, diminishing manufacturing sources and increased down times for maintenance" are all persistent issues that contribute to the need for a new fleet.
